Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Holy Hail sound like skinnydipping in neon. Born out of New York's surprisingly small new wave scene, rooftop barbecues and girlrap groups, the two-guys, two-girls band bring to mind Fleetwood Mac (without the sexual hatred), Clipse (without the murderraps) and Wire (without the dirge) in equal measure. If that sounds like they've taken away everything to love about those bands, and/or you didn't get round to seeing them when they toured with Bonde Do Role you have to get hold of 'Cool Town Rock', their synapse-tingling new new single on ACTH.

Where works best for songwriting?Cat:, vocals: We're kind of like a jam band in the practice space! I have to say that we've written, like, three songs since we've been in London. We never write on tour, so there must be something about the place. There's definitely something to be said for the British appreciation of music. We were just chatting to the taxi driver about old punk and reggae songs. You have the best cab drivers here.

Is there something about the greenspace [it's there, somewhere] and the sprawl in London? You guys sound quite outdoorsy.Kevin, keys: Yeah! London's so sprawling, it just goes on forever! We always listened to rootsy, outdoorsy music, y'know, ol' time Americana. We'd love to live in the country, we were just talking about this earlier actually. As "creatives", you have to be in a city, you have to be surrounded by people, you have to be in city that's constantly moving, but we are a daytripping band. New York County is so beautiful. It's very important to go to a lake for a swim.

What are the plans for next year?Michelly, bass: We have an album to record. We were going to call it We Love The Government, as a joke, we thought that would be kind of ironic. I really like Kevin and Cat's lyrics, actually. We have this line No tricks, sidekicks, all we have is greatest hits. We could call the record Greatest Hits. That would be cool.

Any other plans?M: I'd like to be able to play better! It would be great to be more technical in my bass playing. Sometimes it's hard to play what I have in my head, somethings get lost in translation, y'know? But I'm learning to get better, not to judge. Just go for it!

Monday, December 03, 2007

Top talent from the last twenty years singing their hearts out in Maida Vale – with Fearne Cotton refreshingly out of shot. After generating a quiet storm of interweb hype, Nigel Godrich's From The Basement series of hi-def, lo-tech net TV got its first showing on telly proper over the weekend – Sky Arts broadcast the superlative first show, with performances from The Shins, Neil Hammond and The White Stripes. It's a lovely combination boxfresh stars and legendary artists – forthcoming shows include performances from Beck and Envelopes, Free Blood and Sonic Youth, with Thom Yorke (in rainbows, above) heading up this Saturday's edition. Register at fromthebasement.tv for news and behind the scenes bit and bobs.